Morocco, Spain, and Portugal have been nominated as the FIFA World Cup 2030 hosts. To commemorate the tournament’s centennial, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay will host the first three matches.
Morocco, Spain, and Portugal have been appointed hosts of the 2030 FIFA World Cup, with Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay hosting the first matches to commemorate the tournament’s centennial, FIFA announced on Wednesday.
Morocco, Portugal, and Spain were the only candidates to host the event. FIFA was supposed to name the hosts next year. The first World Cup was contested in Uruguay in 1930, and the hosts won. Spain was awarded the World Cup just weeks after their discredited former president, Luis Rubiales, was forced to resign after allegations of sexual assault at the Women’s World Cup.
The World Cup will be held across three continents and six countries for the first time, which may necessitate group matches taking place in different seasons depending on the hemisphere.
“The FIFA Council unanimously agreed that the sole candidacy will be the combined bid of Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, which will host the event in 2030 and qualify automatically from the existing slot allocation having taken into account the historical context of the first-ever FIFA World Cup, the FIFA Council further unanimously agreed to host a unique centenary celebration ceremony in the country’s capital, Montevideo… as well as three World Cup matches in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay respectively.” FIFA said in a statement.
Qatar hosted the 2022 World Cup. Argentina is the reigning champion.
Argentine Football Association (AFA) said their team “will play the first match of the 2030 group stage at home and with its people”.
“In a divided world, FIFA and football are uniting,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said.
“The FIFA Council… each and every agreed to celebrate the centenary of the FIFA World Cup, whose first edition was played in Uruguay in 1930, in the most proper way. “As a result, a celebration will take place in South America and three South American countries – Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay – will organise one match each of the FIFA World Cup 2030.”
Infantino stated that the first of these three matches will be held at Montevideo’s Estadio Centenario, site of the first World Cup in 1930. The head of the Paraguayan Football Association, Robert Harrison, stated that Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay would automatically qualify for the World Cup, but did not elaborate on what this meant for the South American qualifiers.
THE WORLD CUP IS RETURNING TO SPAIN
While Portugal and Morocco have never hosted the World Cup, Spain did so in 1982. The Royal Spanish Football Federation’s Management Committee President, Pedro Rocha, expressed excitement about bringing the World Cup back to the country that won it in 2010.
“I am sure that together with Morocco and Portugal we will organise the best World Cup in history,” he said.
Fernando Gomes, the president of the Portuguese Football Federation, said: “Each of our countries brings a vibrant footballing tradition, unrivalled organisational experience and a capacity for innovation that will undoubtedly leave its mark on the future of the competition.”
The decision was welcomed by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI. Last year, the African nation astonished the globe by reaching the semi-finals in Qatar.
“His Majesty King Mohammed VI… has the great pleasure of announcing to the Moroccan people that the FIFA Council has unanimously selected the Morocco-Spain-Portugal bid as the sole candidate to organise the 2030 football World Cup,” the Royal Office of Morocco stated in a statement.
FIFA also announced that the 2034 World Cup will be staged in Asia or Oceania, with member associations from those regions invited to bid to host the event.
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